Basically, the licence is being bought Saban Brands (The Buyers of Power Rangers). However nothing will change as it will air on the CW. Because i think that is a partial agreement for distribution in TV and possibly DVD's. I Think 4Kids still owns the main patent of the licence since the whole licence is owned by the Jappense companies. And they will still work with ZEXAL.

In Conclusion this is probably a chance for Yu-Gi-Oh to air reruns on Nickelodeon or Nicktoons and have saban work smartly with Yu-Gi-Oh for Finding a DVD Distributor. 4Kids is selling the Licence, Yes, but only the Distributions parts of it, as do i believe that they still have dubbing rights to the show.

Also in Clarification;

So, essentially, Saban is the power behind Kidsco, which was launched in 2007.​

7.11 Saban Capital Guarantee. As of the execution of this Agreement, Saban
Properties LLC shall execute and deliver a guarantee of all of Purchaser’s obligations under this
Agreement substantially in the form of the guarantee attached hereto as Exhibit G.

my friend showed me this http://dm.epiq11.com/KDS/Docket/#Debtors=4178&RelatedDocketId=&ds=true&maxPerPage=25&page=1 a couple of weeks ago, we wern't sure what it meant 100% other than 4k (to pay off their debt) would have to put certain properties up for sale (i.e. Yugioh) but combined with this news of saban, think it will include GX/5D's as well? (since I think the yugioh (DM/original) license is treated differently than the others (like when we saw them talking about like "yugioh 2008 agreement" as "5D's" during the trial))

I guess my main question is to if 4Kids would still be able to dub ZEXAL and stuff?

Also what do you guys think is the likelyhood of 4K coming out of bankruptcy?

my friend showed me this http://dm.epiq11.com/KDS/Docket/#Debtors=4178&RelatedDocketId=&ds=true&maxPerPage=25&page=1 a couple of weeks ago, we wern't sure what it meant 100% other than 4k (to pay off their debt) would have to put certain properties up for sale (i.e. Yugioh) but combined with this news of saban, think it will include GX/5D's as well? (since I think the yugioh (DM/original) license is treated differently than the others (like when we saw them talking about like "yugioh 2008 agreement" as "5D's" during the trial))

I guess my main question is to if 4Kids would still be able to dub ZEXAL and stuff?

Also what do you guys think is the likelyhood of 4K coming out of bankruptcy?

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When they were fighting about the license last year, it was stated that the Yu-Gi-Oh! license included all of Yu-Gi-Oh!, GX, 5D's, and Zexal, so no, it isn't a separate license. The subbing license was a separate license, but that also appears to have been placed in this contract now, as has airing it on CW4Kids.

What I wonder though is if this could lead to more Saban products appearing on CW4Kids. How ironic would it be if the future Goseiger and Gokaiger licenses appeared on CW4Kids instead of Nick, considering that 4Kids tried to get Ultraman Tiga to be their Power Rangers?

Who exactly would want to buy it anyways? They only have 52 episodes, and it's not like someone else doesn't also have broadcast rights.

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Well it's all rights to the 52-episodes of DBZ Kai they have, right. And guess who actually has the primary streaming rights to DBZ Kai. It's CW4Kids, not Nicktoons or FUNi. 4Kids acquired the primary streaming rights to the entire series from FUNi as part of the condition of airing the series on CW4Kids, so anytime FUNi or Nicktoons streams episodes, they have to pay 4Kids for it. Of course if 4Kids has the rights to the firts 52 episodes, then why have they not aired past episode 26?

Staff MemberModerator

Also what do you guys think is the likelyhood of 4K coming out of bankruptcy?

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At this point, I don't think that they have a chance of getting out of bankruptcy. They sold their only property that still has some life it in, most likely in the attempt of getting more money, as well as being unable to continue dubbing the series themselves, and unless they get another major property that creates a lot of money for them, then they aren't going to get out of bankruptcy.

aegisrawks said:

I hope this will give some money to 4kids.

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This deal will give them money, but that's only going to help them out for a short amount of time.

This news still surprises me. I had a strong feeling that 4Kids would have the sell Yu-Gi-Oh! at some point, but I wasn't expecting it would be to Saban. That makes much more sense than Classic Media getting the license. I really hope that this leads to Yu-Gi-Oh! being released on DVD within the not too distant future. Though, this does make me think that 4Kids isn't going to last longer if they only have the rights to air the series and Saban is taking over the dubbing rights.

Well it's all rights to the 52-episodes of DBZ Kai they have, right. And guess who actually has the primary streaming rights to DBZ Kai. It's CW4Kids, not Nicktoons or FUNi. 4Kids acquired the primary streaming rights to the entire series from FUNi as part of the condition of airing the series on CW4Kids, so anytime FUNi or Nicktoons streams episodes, they have to pay 4Kids for it. Of course if 4Kids has the rights to the firts 52 episodes, then why have they not aired past episode 26?

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Toonzai has already cycled through the 52 episodes that they have acquired a few times now.

At this point, I don't think that they have a chance of getting out of bankruptcy. They sold their only property that still has some life it in, most likely in the attempt of getting more money, as well as being unable to continue dubbing the series themselves, and unless they get another major property that creates a lot of money for them, then they aren't going to get out of bankruptcy.

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But what about the 8 million they won in the YGO! lawsuit? And does it really say they won't handle the dubbing for Yu-Gi-Oh! anymore??

I got this from The2ndEvil at rangerboard who in turn got it from his lawyer friend.

Wow, 4kids is getting completely screwed on this thing.

This is a straight up fire sale. Everything must go. Licences, royalties, physical property, all the way down to Avid or Protools machines used to edit the sound.

And "Seller" (IE 4kids) is left holding the transfer taxes.

I'm seeing licences for Viva Pinata and DBZ in here as well. Page 10, Sec (ddd) is the clearest statement to that effect.

Cabbage Patch, Thundercats, ... Charlie Chan... Yu-Gi-Oh is the big one, but... this isn't a licence tranfer, this is a buyout. 4kids looks to be unloading pretty much their entire library, or at least everything with related toy brands.

Page 36 sec 8.2 is particularly depressing. Purchaser has the option to hire on personnel related to the licences, but is not required to. They could vacate the entire team bar none if they so chose.

I stand by my initial assessment. 4kids is getting getting the short end of the stick on this.

Judging by the language and the repeated mention of bankruptcy court, I can only assume that this is directly tied to those proceedings.

Staff MemberModerator

But what about the 8 million they won in the YGO! lawsuit? And does it really say they won't handle the dubbing for Yu-Gi-Oh! anymore??

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That eight million dollars that they got from the settlement clearly hasn't helped 4Kids. If it did, then they wouldn't be putting up the Yu-Gi-Oh! license for sale. I believe that they are trying to sell the license, so that would mean that they wouldn't be involved dubbing the series. They are probably trying to keep the rights to air the series.

After reading through the article on Anime News Network and this link: http://ravegrl.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/4kids-to-sell-yugioh-license-for-10-million/ I don't think that Saban is buying the license just yet. They're just the first one to bid on the auction for the license. I must be pretty tired since I didn't realize that until after reading through ravegrl's website and someone else on a Yu-Gi-Oh! site I go to pointed it out, but that would make a bit more sense with putting the license up for auction. It does make me wonder if we'll see any other companies bid for the license and how much the license will go for at the end.

Andrew T. Hingson said:

Well Yu-Gi-Oh remains boned forever. I hope this doesn't mean they will be taking the subbed streams down.

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I hope that those subbed episodes won't be taken down by whoever gets the license. It would be a shame to lose legal subs for 5D's and even Zexal after fans have wanted that for so long. I think it would be cool if they could keep those up online and eventually have subs for DM and GX, even though whoever is going to get the license is going to primarily focus on Zexal and there would be the voice actor contract issues for the DM subs to deal with.

I hope that those subbed episodes won't be taken down by whoever gets the license. It would be a shame to lose legal subs for 5D's and even Zexal after fans have wanted that for so long. I think it would be cool if they could keep those up online and eventually have subs for DM and GX, even though whoever is going to get the license is going to primarily focus on Zexal and there would be the voice actor contract issues for the DM subs to deal with.

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There are actually clauses in the contract that will keep the 4Kids programs on Hulu, including the Yu-Gi-Oh! subs. However I would say don't expect the original Yu-Gi-Oh! to be subbed because of the contract problems they have had. I'm still waiting for them to sub the last season of GX as well.